Royal Geographical Society Library and Archive

Check out the website: https://www.rgs.org/

I will be the first to admit that I rudely fell asleep throughout this presentation. Perhaps there was something in my diet because all I can seem to accomplish is narcolepsy in London, yet insomnia in the States. I truly found, what I heard from Mr. Rae, very interesting because I do like geography, minus the history.

Nevertheless, I did gather some information about this presentation. The Royal Geographic Society was founded in the 1830s under a different name by wealthy men. Travel and data-gathering equipment was much more expensive than it is today, and it still is expensive to travel. So this was a discipline for the wealthy and very curious, and thankfully these men wanted to share their findings publicly. These ranged from climbing Mount Everest to exploring the Canadian Northwest Passage, both of which had many brave lives lost.

From what I gathered, many people risked their lives for the pursuit of geographical knowledge, despite the public consensus that geography was not its own discipline at the time. This reminds me of library science very much because when people hear about my desired degree, they are confused on why people need a degree for it and just accuse me of wanting to read the rest of my life. Similarly, I feel these men with all of their wealth and power were accused of just wanting to travel the world.

I am glad there is an archival aspect to the geographical society not just for historical keepsake, but for educational pursuits.